Unsolicited e-mail is at an all-time high, and promises only to grow exponentially. Businesses find themselves at a loss for ideas as to what method is best to deal with spam. If they block spam in the most effective ways they end up also blocking legitimate e-mail from potential clients; if they do not block spam they lose time and money.

One man, Chris Lewis, claims spam costs his company $1 per message, in the seconds it takes to delete the message for his co-workers and in the hours spent researching ways to block spam for his department. AT&T WorldNet lost what probably amounted to more than $1 per message when its e-mail service was shut down for an entire day due to spam traffic (it is believed to have been a DoS attack). AT&T claims that 20% of its e-mail server traffic is from spam. Some ISPs estimate 50% of theirs is spam.

According to Brightmail, a company that specializes in spam-filtering, consumers will receive 700 spam messages this year–its research projects that that number will double by 2006. The sheer volume of messages is giving companies little room to consider options. Many are aggressively blocking e-mail from unknown senders, and even whole geographic areas. In the U.S. and much of the rest of the world, e-mail servers are configured to only route e-mail being sent to specific addresses, not to “any third-party.” Many servers in Asia are not set up this way, so spammers are routing their mail, whether it originates in Asia or the U.S., through those servers. For this reason many businesses are blocking entire geographic regions of China from their inbox. The Chinese government is not very happy about that, since legitimate mail is also being blocked, hurting the Chinese economy.

That sort of blacklisting, even in milder form, is risky for business. Spammers send much of their mail through legitimate servers, too, so you may end up blocking a Sprint mail server, meaning a real potential client would be unable to e-mail you. Still, it is an effective and popular method to reduce spam.

Spammers are also using new and harder to trace methods every day. Many are using temporarily assigned IP addresses from broadband clients. Since these addresses are temporary they are very difficult to trace. Other spammers have mastered the art of forgery, successfully tailoring their e-mail headers to match those of eBay, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. The allure of spam, obviously, is cheap advertising. A spammer pays no postage fees, buys no paper, and pays no printer. A CD-ROM purchased on the Internet for $150 tells a spammer everything he or she needs to know to set up a spamming operation, including how to steal bandwidth from the insecure Asian servers that make mass-mailing possible. That is one less thing to pay for.

One of the proposed methods of combating spam in the court-room is making spam legal, with a price. This would allow you to send e-mail to “any third-party” on U.S. mail servers with a fee attached, encouraging the traffic originating from the U.S. to stay within the U.S., where it could be regulated. That, theoretically, takes away the cheap appeal. Spam would still exist, but the hope is that the amount would decrease.

Current regulations regarding spam are meager and state-level. California law requires that the subject of the mail include the letters “ADV” to label it as spam. This would allow easy filtering, but spammers have included “A D V” or “A.D.V.” instead, throwing off filters. There are doubtless many other variations that spammers will conjure until the law is made more specific. This sort of back-and-forth is frustrating to all parties involved, and only delays regulation.

Another method depends on self-regulation. Truste and ePrivacy Group launched a program called “Trusted Sender,” which would provide a seal of approval to a company that met certain standards regarding e-mail practices. If the company demonstrates that it only sends e-mail to parties with which it has an existing relationship, it gets the seal. Consumers can then block e-mail that does not carry the seal. None of these methods are entirely effective, but a combination of two or more can be very helpful to bursting company inboxes.

THOMAS'S OPINION
I don't have much hope of getting rid of spam. I will probably filter like crazy in personal inboxes, but corporate mail servers are just out of luck if you ask me.

Unsolicited mail in physical form is an evil that has never been challenged either. Think about it: junk mail in your physical mailbox is even more plentiful than spam. That's unknown gobs of money spent on ink, paper, and postage every day. Conservationists should go after the junk mail people–think of all the trees killed every day to put a little note in my mailbox telling me where I can buy cheap Viagra(which would be great if I were interested) or where I can get the funny-looking glasses that will cure my myopia.

The problem is, it's not only legal, it's government-sponsored. The guys that mail out all the millions of pieces of junk mail get a bulk postage rate. Do you get a bulk postage rate? I don't. I have to pay 34 cents for every piece of mail I send. Those guys pay a fraction of that.

I like the idea of legalizing spam to bring it home where it can be regulated. I like the idea of charging a guy to send spam. That's not the whole picture, though. We need to pressure China to dam-up its e-mail servers–shouldn't be too hard; we just got the country to legitimize its software licenses–and punish more severely those who fake mail headers. We need to enforce labeling, like California's “ADV” scheme, with specific rules and punishment for deviation. In short, the government needs to get involved and needs to get aggressive.

Not really. I have a nice little sign on my mailbox that says “No Flyers Please”. With a very few rare exceptions, I only get mail specifically addressed to me.

Too bad I can't do the same on my Inbox.- by Pond Scum

My filter(11:19am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)At home, I have a filter setup that moves a junkmail folder anything not directly sent to me. 99 out of 100 messages end up there - by Salaryman

uhh..(11:20am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)how are you going to charge for spamming? whos going to regulate it? and why can't the chineese secure their computers but americans can? we all use the same software right? - by whatever

if they charge… who get the money?(11:22am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)if they charge the spammers… who gets the money. the isp's who have to route it(which one btw) the end user who has to delete it… the company who looses time because it's employee has to delete it? who? - by TonTo

I Hate Spam(11:50am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I know there is not much to do right now but the sometimes 40+ spams a day is the only thing that causes me computer rage. - by Cory

War Hammer(11:57am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)Sometime ago I was getting a little piss off on Spam phone calls. So I writen a little program I call. War Hammer. Its like the one used in Wargames, but it dials the number using the internet every 1 min. I also used it on spamers that have 800. This way it cost them money. Sure, I know I know… But hay if they have to pay .15/30a min for a hang up how long can they be around.- by Hammer Time

Regulate..(12:09pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I know is difficult regulate the internet, but I think will be very nice if a person to have an IP address and run a server (corporate or ISP) should have at least fills some requirement, is like a driver license for the internet, one of the requirement can be a non relay mail server and some security options, if you can´t meet this, you can´t connect your server to internet, this will for sure reduce the DoS attacks and all this virus problems - by Troy

You can lose weight now, AND make up to $30,000 a week in your spare time, while having sex with asians…it worked for me!!!

- by Donna Reed 666

Can we cut Spam?(12:32pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I live in Indiana, and the Governors office came up with the idea of adding your name/phone number to a non “telemarketing” list.

I have not had a telemarketer call me since before Christmas.

It would be great if we could do the same thing online. That way you would only get opt in email.

Problem is how do you enforce this on the web, when much of the spam is routed through foreign servers…

Ah well, at least I don t hear from AT&T every night. - by Jack

Spam Filter.(12:39pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)Its easy to set up. Please configure these to LEAVE THE MESSAGE ON THE MAIL SERVER. If your ISP's mail server keeps running out of space due to spam, perhaps they will do something about it. - by SpamNoGood

Spam has such useful information!(12:42pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)Just today I learned that by taking a pill I can add 1 to 3 inches… And there is this really nice girl named Daisy with a drunk sister and a webcam that really wants to meet me!I think they need to shore up email so it's not possible to fake your header information and every from address is really where it came from.Like caller ID, if I don't know with reasonable assurance who is calling, I don't accept the call.- by Robguy

This is easy, easy, easy(12:53pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)Extension to email spec, use a hashed key in addition to email address. Without the key, your email program rejects the message. Key is different for each user you give it out to and if someone abuses and gives out your address/key, you can block that whole key and all the associated spam.

What would it take Microsoft to implement this…a week? Followed by a change to web sites demanding an email address to include the key, a few page changes and database changes? Would take a year to take effect, but solves the spam problem once and for all.

or you can do what I do, have a primary email you never give out except to friends, and a spambox that you only use to give out to companies who ask for it. Once a year scuttle the spambox and make a new one. My spambox is getting 75 stupid, useless emails a day, time to scuttle… - by Pirate bob (Arrrr!)

Pirate…(1:12pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)That's nice, but if your ISP gives your Email address away without consent as they do at Yahoo, and many other sites, you are still gonna get spam. Money is too scarce right now, so they are turning to selling your addresses for $$$.

YAHOO IS TO THE POINT THAT THEY ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW POP3 ACCESS UNLESS YOU PAY $19.99-$29.99 A YEAR, EFFECTIVE APRIL 24. That is a big deal to many of us and it really sux! - by SteveB

War Hammer Part 2(1:17pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)Once I get the caller ID working, sure free ware… - by Hammer time

Ugh(1:25pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)It seems that a couple weeks ago I made my way onto some new lists that result in about 20 spam emails a day. Most of them are from Korea. Is it fair to launch a DoS attack on their mail server? I think so. Also, Bush should add Korea to the axis of evil. Then bomb the shit out of their mail servers. - by Spamwhich

Bulk Rate Postage(1:47pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)>>Do you get a bulk postage rate? I don't. I have to pay 34 cents for every piece of mail I send. Those guys pay a fraction of that.

It is true junk mailers get a cheaper per unit rate, but they are actually underwriting the postal service for the rest of us. Without their billions of pieces of mail each year, the post office would still have to pay for the infrastructure for the rest of us-THAT would raise the price of a letter far beyond 34cents. Just recycle it. - by crabbyoldguy

One solution…(3:03pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I'm sure many of you know about this service, but I highly recommend for those times that you don't want to give out your primary (or even secondary email address). You download a program that will create a unique email for any given situation. Emails sent to that address will be forwarded to your primary email address. You will also be able to track that spammotel address by a short description and can have something in the subject header for any email coming through that address. Great way to figure out who is giving out your info. If it gets out of hand, you just cancel that address. Good stuff… - by Spam-b-Gone

Filter mail…(3:41pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)2 2nd acct with delete all from web feature. Don't sign up for free stuff @ every site you attend & use don't solicit or include me in lists when you do. Use unsubscibe tools when junk gets more than 20. Stop spam & save the rain forest..or trees!? - by tech

The Art of Filtering(3:56pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I consider Spam to be like a war game, and I have to set up defenses against it.

Pegasus Mail (freeware) is a great email client with powerful filtering capabilities. It also lets you highlight the subject line in a color.

Rules:

- If it is addressed specifically to me (my personal email address) color it Blue, and exit rule set.

- If it is addressed to a mailing list I subscribe to, color it purple, and exit rule set.

- If it possesses some identifying phrase from a known spam outfit, color it Grey and mark it as Already Read.

If it does not fit any of these filters, then it ends up being colored black by default.

So, a quick look at my inbox, and all the subject lines are color coded. I can see immediately which ones are personal mail, and which ones are likely spam just by the colors.

If you have an addressbook, then you can make a rule that says, “If sender is in my addressbook, color it [Green] and exit rule set.” This should be the very first rule.

If you are aggressive, you can rule that the suspicious mail automatically gets put in the Trash or Spam folder, but then you might miss an honest message. I prefer to see the spam appear, just color code it, so I know not to open it.

The main flaw is when you subscribe to some new mailing list. Normally the first emails from that list will be colored Gray for Spam until you remember to update our Rules to recognize the new mailing list you subscribed to as a legitimate address.

You should make another set of rules that will be applied “When NewMail Folder is Closed.” These rules should be similar to the ones above, but instead of just color coding mail, these rules should effectively Move the suspicious mail to Spam folders.

For example:

- On Close NewMail Folder: if body contains “click here,” Move to Spam.

This way, when you close the NewMail Folder, it sweeps out all the suspicious mail. but at least you had a chance to look at it first (color coded subject lines, as above). - by Win the war on spam

If caught with spamming you should be JAILED(4:02pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)If caught with spam you should be JAILED for 5 years with 10,000$ per Person they Spammed as a FINE.

maybe then they would STOP

i get around 50 emails of SPAM everyday - by goden99

How about SUING the Crap out of them?(5:33pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I was reading a story back on March 12th or so about the Largest law firm in California (Morrison & Foerster LLP) suing a spam-mailer.

It's a great read, and the law firm (abbreviated MoFo – I'm not joking) posted a PDF of the complaint they filed.

Take a and maybe you'll think Lawyers are good for *something* after all…

The moral of that story is: Don't spam the largest law firm in CA – especially if they call themselves “MoFo” !

Marketing(3:43pm EST Fri Mar 22 2002)Bloody marketing weasels. I guess they couldn't get through any university major that had balls so they chose marketing.

P.S. If any site asks for your e-mail ID and you don't want anything from them just put it root@localhost.com. Fills up their mailbox. - by Spam, Eggs and Spam

Make Them Pay.(4:35pm EST Fri Mar 22 2002)Maybe the only way spam will stop is if isp's start charging for every email address you send email to. Have a base amount of email addresses you can send to a day for free, any additionals are 5 cents each.large corporations can buy larger amounts of base emails they can send, similar to buying bandwith on a web acct. This will also generate more revenue in proportion to the amount of bandwith customers will use. Its not a good alternative but it will be a effective one IMHO. - by Hex

if it wasn't for spam(10:12pm EST Fri Mar 22 2002)If it wasn't for spam, I wouldn't get any mail at all. So, spam gives me something to do. - by got_no_life

The adv thing is a good idea(7:55pm EST Sun Mar 24 2002)If all the states would pass a law that would make it mandatory to put ADV (unedited and no spaces) at the beginning of any spam mails subject. That way anyone would be able to block spam if they wanted to. They should also pass a law that if they don't put exactly ADV at the beginning of the e-mail subject that they could be fined up to 1 dollar per e-mail that violates the law. I think this would about kill spam.

I'm tired of getting 50 spam mails a day about lowering my mortage rates, that free trip i won or how to get rid of my debit. For gods sake I'm 17. - by Mr. Moore

spam from asia(9:10am EST Thu Mar 28 2002)I checked several email softwares and I cant find out how to filter out mail using anything other than straight western alphabet characters. If I could do that, I'd get rid of at least 20 spams a day. - by froggy

Productive?(8:52pm EST Thu Jun 20 2002)Does it really save time having spam moved into a separate folder, as you still need to check whether legitimate email has been accidentally flagged as being spam? It is time for a new approach to spam prevention. - by Bluebottle

A great spam filter(12:51am EST Mon Oct 28 2002)I found a great piece of spam software that does work effectively for cleaning spam, and I recommend it called Spam Inspector by Giant Company () - by Tim J